"He had completed all of the requirements of the Wyoming law. The charges against him had been dismissed and his record had been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing," Cannizzaro said.

Alford, 29, ended up at a hotel about a mile away from the bar, according to police in the Rocky Mountain resort town. When police tracked him down the next morning, Alford said he didn't remember how he got back to his hotel. The taxi joyride was caught on video by a security camera at a hotel and bar where Alford had been hanging out.

Alford pleaded no contest in June to the charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle, a misdemeanor in Wyoming. A judge ordered him to pay $390 in court fees and $100 in restitution to Superior Taxi, to serve six months unsupervised probation and complete 20 hours of community service, Teton County records show.

But a judge ended his probation early, on Sept. 2, and dismissed the case Sept. 7, saying Alford had fulfilled the terms of his probation. Teton County prosecutors did not oppose it.

Cannizzaro had agreed to take Alford back once he got off probation, according to a Sept. 1 letter to the Teton County court from Alford's Wyoming attorney, Richard Mulligan.

In the meantime, fellow prosecutor Matthew McLaren, 26, remains on unpaid suspension after an Aug. 16 altercation with his girlfriend that led to an arrest for battery. The state attorney general's office reviewed the case and dropped the charge, noting that the woman requested it. She had accused McLaren of choking her and placing a semiautomatic handgun to her chest.

"Mr. Alford was gone for almost a year. This man (McLaren), it's a much shorter period of time," Cannizzaro said. "You certainly have to consider the individuals involved. You have to consider the allegations that were made."

McLaren had worked for just under two years at the DA's office before his suspension. Alford started around early 2009, according to the office.